Monday, February 13, 2017

(Monte Carlo, Monaco)- This year’s Primo Cup– Trophée Credit Suisse
regatta, hosted by the YC Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco was full of
surprises. For one, no one expected so many shocking performances at
the top of the J/70 class leaderboard. French, Polish, Swiss, Russian,
Italian, German, Monaco and Brazilian sailors in the top ten of the J/70
fleet? What?! Is this a “politically correct” United Nations sailing
event? Not! It’s just the natural evolution of the world’s largest and
fastest growing sportsboat class; a class that could be defined as one
famous British journalist labeled the J/24 class in its infancy in 1978-
“the Laser with a lid”! Everyone and anyone can get up to speed fast!
For the world’s top sailors and tacticians, that’s a scary scenario.
But, also a fun one. That means top amateur crews can be competitive in
a short period of time. In Europe, that evolution has been
turbo-charged by the J/70 sailing leagues pioneered by the Germans and
led by SAP Sports and Oliver Schwall’s marketing crew in Hamburg,
Germany.

It
was time for a “samba pa ti” at YC Monaco for the awards celebration!
The hot "Ipanema-like" tempo for this year’s regatta was set on the
first day for the fleet of fifty (50) J/70s sailing in the famous
Hercules Bay. From day one, the Brazilian team from YC Rio de Janeiro
on MANDACHUVA, skippered by Mario Soerensen Garcia, with Mauricio Santa
Cruz calling tactics (a 4x J/24 World Champion), simply smoked the
fleet, posting two bullets over the star-struck fleet. They never
looked back, posting two more bullets on the final day to win by a
significant margin. The famous beaches and streets of Rio were
celebrating well into the night; Brazil had yet another feather in their
cap, besides other sailing and soccer (futbol) World Cups (and Olympic
Gold Medals) to their credit!

The
first day produced the best the Monegasque club’s PRO could offer to
the incredibly competitive J/70 fleet. The sailors enjoyed a brisk
20-knot southwesterly with a light chop, giving everyone a chance to
prove their tactical prowess. Of the twelve nations participating, no
one expected a bunch of samba-crazed Brazilians to lead the fleet with
such a dominating performance. Hot on their heels, and learning
frighteningly fast, were the French team of GIVE ME FIVE from CN
Sainte-Maxime, led by Adrien Follin. The GIVE ME FIVE team posted an
equally blistering tally of 3-2 to be within striking distance of the
lead. Lying in third after day one was Poland’s EWA, skippered by
Krzysztof Krempec from YC Pologne with a 2-4. They were followed in
fourth place by a local Monegasque crew, Ludovico Fassitelli’s crew on
JUNDA BANCA DEL SEMPIONE with a 4-8 and in fifth was the Swiss Lake
Geneva crew of CER APROTEC skippered by Nelson Mettraux from Societe
Nautique de Geneve. Just behind them was the German team of SANNA R
skippered by Gerd Knospe from VSaW.

On the final day, rain tried to delay playtime, but it was not enough to
cool the ardor of those on the water, delighted to be in the thick of
the action. For YC Monaco General Secretary, Bernard d’Alessandro, there
was satisfaction in the scene unfolding before their magnificent club
on the Mediterranean Riviera, “It is always a pleasure to see so many
seasoned and amateur sailors racing in the Principality. It was an
excellent turnout and we had ideal conditions every day, so I am
delighted it has been a success.”

Clean
starts, masterful mark roundings, impeccable control on downwind
maneuvers, and smiles from ear-to-ear at the finish! Yes, the
Brazilians on MANDACHUVA really enjoyed themselves at this year’s Primo
Cup–Trophée Credit Suisse. “It was a wonderful regatta. The level was
high and there was everything to play for,” said helmsman, Mario
Soerensen Garcia. The team blew away their rivals on the downwind legs,
keeping the boat flat and exploiting the waves for surfing (remember
images of those massive waves at the Rio 2016 Olympics sailing venue
offshore? They sail in that stuff for “beer can” races! No wonder).
By winning every race, they left Frenchman Adrien Follin’s crew on GIVE
ME FIVE no chance but 2nd in the final ranking, 9 points adrift. As for
locals, Ludovico Fassitelli’s JUNDA BANCA DEL SEMPIONE, European
Vice-Champion and Yacht Club de Monaco member, made a spectacular
comeback to clinch 3rd place.

Rounding out the top five were Krempec’s Polish crew on EWA in 4th place
and Mettraux’s Swiss crew on CER APROTEC in fifth place. In fact,
there were eight nations represented in the top nine teams! Sixth place
was Knospe’s German team on SANNA R, seventh was Germano Scarpa’s
Italian crew on SPORT CUBE from YC Costa Smeralda (host of the 2017 J/70
Worlds), eighth was Alain Stettler’s German contingent on QUARTER 2
ELEVEN from Regatta Club Oberhofen, and ninth was Dmitry Shunin’s
Russian crew from Moscow on GOLDEN WINGS, a Konakovo Sailing Club team.

Another special feature of the Primo Cup - Trophée Credit Suisse was
that all crew members in the first three boats in the J/70 class
received clothing from SLAM’s Advanced Technology Sportswear!